The week in jazz – October 17-23

Oh it’s saxophone city across Bristol this week, with a veritable who’s who of the UK’s finest modern jazz reedsmen happily on offer on separate nights. First up (The Fringe, Wednesday 19) is Iain Ballamy, the Loose Tubes founder member whose open-eared approach and richly melodic playing style took him into Europe and the Scandinavian scene in the late 90s. He had worked with the likes of Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvaer and Thomas Strønen (with whom he established the ECM recorded electro-acoustic group Food). Among his home-based projects he was in the original line-up of Indigo Kid and the highly successful folk-meets-classical-meets-jazz trio Quercus and he’s appearing at the Fringe with multi-instrumentalist Percy Pursglove (last seen playing bagpipes with Paul Dunmall) and the fiery combination of Jim Blomfield (piano) and Mark Whitlam (drums).

Before he headed for the fjords, however, Iain was also a member of Bill Bruford’s late 80s powerhouse band Earthworks alongside Tim Garland who appears at St George’s (Thursday 20) with a bogglingly good quartet including Jason Rebello (piano), Ant Law (guitar) and Asaf Sirkis (drums) and the possibility of a ‘surprise guest or two’. An ambitious and successful composer as well as a dazzling instrumentalist, Tim’s a long association with the great Chick Corea has kept him firmly in the international scene over many years.

Thursday night (20) welcomes the Nigel Price Organ Trio to the Future Inn with ex-James Taylor guitarist Price inviting Bunch of Five saxophonist Alex Garnett to join his threesome. Garnett’s muscular approach is rooted in a classic New York style, with all the blues-fuelled swaggering that implies and his joust with the organ trio format could be a sparky business.

Two superstar horn blowers of a younger generation will be coming to The Exchange (Saturday 22) in the mighty Melt Yourself Down as part of a left field triple bill. Founder Pete Wareham’s raucous punk-jazz tenor sax has been rattling rafters since the early days of the F-IRE collective and his role in Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear. This mash-up of Ethiopique wonkiness with blasting No Wave jazz also includes the mighty Shabaka Hutchings (of Mercury nominated The Comet Is Coming and Sons of Kemet). Fronted by local hero vocalist Kushal Gaya (Zun Zun Egui) the band rip into their live set with sweat-drenched energy so this one is not for the faint hearted.

For more sedate – but no less impressive – modern jazz saxophone you might want to catch the Dave Perry Trio at Left Bank (Sunday 23). Dave’s alto saxophone has a nimbleness that brings his self-penned contemporary material to life and with regular partners Joe Allen (bass) and Paul Wigens (drums) they form an empathetic trio that’s a joy to watch. 

Our last reed-playing notable of the week is at the Bebop Club (Friday 21) when pianist Ray D’Inverno deploys Canadian saxophonist Terry Quinney alongside Andy Hague’s trumpet in Ray D’inferno’s Quintessential Groove, a cool quintet likely to reflect Terry’s commitment to the classic Blue Note sound as well as Ray’s own post-bop compositions.